New Delhi, Dec 7 (PTI) Power Minister R K Singh todaysaid most of the states have agreed on 24X7 power for all, 90per cent pre-paid meters and direct benefit transfer (DBT) ofsubsidies for electricity consumers across the country.
"Our vision is that we want 24X7 power for all by March2019. Now it will be a legal obligation. After March 2019, ifthere is any load shedding without any reason, there will bepenalties except in case of technical issues or act of God,"Singh said.
He was addressing reporters at a conference of 'Ministersfor Power and New & Renewable Energy of States & UnionTerritories' here.
The minster said all the participant states have agreedto provide 24X7 power to all.
He further said there would be 100 per cent metering (ofelectricity supply) and 90 per cent of this would be pre-paid meters.
"We are doing away with the human interface totally inmetering, billing and collection. The payment for electricityconsumption will be through mobile phone. All states haveagreed on this," he said.
Asked about the deadline for achieving the goal of 90 percent pre-paid meters in the country, the minister said thereis no deadline.
"But we have to reduce losses by January 2019 to ensure24X7 power for all by March 2019. It is agreed that the(distribution) losses would be reduced to below 15 per cent byJanuary 2019," he said.
Singh said the other issue that was discussed was crosssubsidisation, as some states have 19 slabs of tariff. Thepower tariff will be remodelled according to the reportpresented by an expert committee today.
He explained that the cross subsidy would not be morethan 20 per cent (the difference between highest and lowesttariff).
Tariff policy provides that cross subsidy would bebrought down to 20 per cent in the first phase. It will helpin reduction of tariff for a section of consumers.
About the direct benefit transfer for consumers he said:"Any subsidy you want to give to any category of consumers, ithas to go through DBT. That would be the law. All states agreeon that."The minister also made it clear to states that any tariffdecided after the bid has to be adopted and power purchaseagreements have to obeyed because that is the law.
About Saubhagya scheme, he said: "We would provideelectricity connection to 4 crore families by December 2018.
We are running a public awareness campaign to tell people thatthey are not required to go anywhere and pay a single rupeefor getting electricity connection. We would organise camps todo that."He also said after March 2019, the loss will be capped at15 per cent for fixation of tariff.
"If there are losses of more than 15 per cent, you cannotset that (additional amount over the cap) off by (higher)tariff. The consumers should not be asked to pay for theftcommitted by others," he added.
On availability of power in Gujarat for farmers, he saidpower is very much available for farmers in the state.
"We have agreed that states will set up their own roadmapfor separation of carriage and content in power sector," hesaid.
This move will help consumers choose their serviceproviders in power sector on the lines of telecom services.
About village electrification he said: "As many as 2,100villages are still to be electrified including 1,100 inArunachal Pradesh. Some of these are affected due to rain andsnow. Thus, the electrification of these villages would becompleted by February or March."A total of 17 states including Uttar Pradesh, Manipur,Odisha, among others and 1 UT attended the conference anddeliberated on a host of issues including 24x7 power to all.
PTI KKSANU.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.